Wow. Change happens quickly in the Alps. It seems like just yesterday that our evenings were spent swanning by the lake amongst the crowds, contemplating the possibility of a dip, playing at the lake edge in the sand (dirt would be a more accurate description but I’m trying to be poetic here) and devouring an ice cream before heading home for dinner.
Then on the 1st of September Autumn arrived and brought with it two days of solid Alpine wind to blow away all of those notions. So before we’ve even had the chance to dust the “sand” out of our shoes, just like that we’ve packed away the swimsuits and unpacked the jackets and scarves. Except I’m sort of in denial. I keep thinking I’ll roam down to the little beach and order a glass of rose. But then I open the door and feel the chill and suddenly a spot of television seems more enticing.
We swung by the beach the other afternoon and it was so strange to see it deserted. Where is the mass of humanity that we had come to love? Apparently tout le monde (everyone) is back at work. So we have discovered that come August 31, the party is over.
Now we have other pursuits to fill our days. For the girls, it’s school. They’re underwhelmed with it and are counting down the number of school days until they can be back in their Montessori utopia.
Rob and I too are back at school. French school. We’ve enroled in a three week course in French at a language institute in Annecy. There are 7 students in our class and we have a three hour lesson each weekday morning. It’s very intensive. There is an assumption that we are already familiar with the basics of the language – basic verb conjugations and a range of basic vocabulary. We thought we were up with it, but three days into the course we’re realising we may need to do way more homework than most. ESPECIALLY ROB! (I’m hoping he reads this!!). Rob kind of vagues off in the class and then when our teacher Frederic calls on him to answer something it’s really funny seeing him try to get with the program. In fact now Frederic is already chuckling when he calls on Rob, waiting to see what he’ll come up with. Somehow I don’t think the chuckling bodes well.
Not content with doing one course at a time, Rob has also started a cours de Parapente. Simultaneously. That's right - no longer will he have to jump off mountains attached to the front of another man, he's planning to do it solo!!! eek. He’s already wagged one French lesson to go for his first parapente lesson. I felt like the naughty school girl covering for my boyfriend (“Ummm Frederic, Rob’s ummm unable to make class today”).
It’s September 8 so today we’re looking forward to watching the Oz vs Japan world cup match at 3.25pm. Our American friends Rachel and Nate are coming over - the deal is they have to support the Aussies and then we've promised to support the yanks in their match against England which is at 6pm this evening. Very exciting!! (Except for the small matter of the television signal which is playing up again… now that we actually want to watch something on it we may be left with a blank screen, having to improvise with a game of charades while the Aussies are blitzing the Japanese.)
Brendan and Tam are departing Paris in a car about now and will probably arrive in the middle of the World Cup pandemonium here this evening. It should be a good night. Hope you all set the alarm so you can be up to catch the match. C'mon the Aussies!!!
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